The 2026 FIFA World Cup has gotten off to a flying start on the pitch. With so much happening every day, ESPN India attempts to pick out the one magical moment that defined the day's action.
For Day 19, we pick José Canale's winning penalty for Paraguay against Germany.
*****
The Paraguay bench erupted in cheers. 122 minutes on the clock, the score reading Germany 1, Paraguay 1, the referee had blown his whistle. It had been an immense, dogged display from Paraguay -- from the beautifully worked goal created by Matías Galarza and finished by Julio Enciso to the near two hours of defensive work they'd put in, shutting Germany down in midfield, closing spaces in their own box, heading and tackling and lunging at everything, seeing a VAR call go their way rather controversially, then going back to heading and tackling and lunging at everything -- but you couldn't help but think: why the cheer?
For the whistle had indicated that the game was to move into penalties, and Germany never lost on penalties. With the great Manuel Neuer in goal and a 50-year history of not losing a competitive shootout behind them, there was no way they would lose this one either. In fact, the last time they had been beaten (1976 Euros final, against Czechoslovakia) it had become the stuff of legend, the last man to score a winning penalty against them being one Antonin Panenka. You may not have heard of the player, but you've certainly heard of the penalty named after him. That's what it takes to beat Germany in one of these things - history making brilliance. However poor they may be in regular time, they just don't lose a penalty shootout.
And yet, Paraguay cheered. For half the shootout, that cheer seemed merited. Orlando Gill - an amateur till eight years ago, a player who had to sell some of his gear at one point to keep his household running, but now undisputed #1 for club and country -- saved two penalties brilliantly, waiting for Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade to commit to a side and diving to stop them with strong hands. Just as Paraguay seemed to be running away with it, though, the aura of Germany struck. Manuel Neuer diving the right way forced Antonio Sanabria (a product of La Masia and one time wunderkind) to drag his shot wide, before Fabián Balbuena ('the general', leader of the dressing room even if he doesn't start these days) saw his effort, which could have won it for Paraguay, saved by Neuer.
Surely, that was it then. Neuer and nerves and half a century of German aura and the weight of the occasion were all getting to the underdogs. This would be where David fell yet again, in the face of the mighty Goliath that is the German shootout machine. Even when Jonathan Tah (whose goal had been disallowed earlier) skied his effort, it didn't seem to matter. Neuer was there. The aura was there.
For the sixth kick, up stepped Jose Canale, to win it. All that happened, though, was that the aura increased. Who even was this Jose Canale in front of all that history?
A 29-year-old centre-back, Canale wasn't even supposed to have played this game, but after starting in place of the injured Omar Alderete, he had been brilliant for the 120+ minutes. Alongside captain Gustavo Gómez, he had been a rock upon which wave after wave of German attack met their futile end. None of this translated to being the next Panenka, of course. A quick glance at his stats, and it was quite uninspiring: five appearances for the nation, no goals. 206 appearances for various clubs over 11 years, nine goals. If Sanabria and Balbuena cracked under all that pressure, what chance did he have?
What the stats don't tell you, though, is the story of the brilliant 2025 that got him that belated Paraguay national team call up. After establishing himself at Argentine club Lanus last year (finally, after years of loan spells across Latin America), he had developed into one of the best defenders on the continent as he led them to the 2025 Copa Sudamericana title. And then in February this year, he had scored one of the great goals in Lanus' history: a 118th minute header in the Recopa Sudamericana which ensured they beat Flamengo in front of 65,000 at the Maracana. Don't look at the nine goals, look at the ninth -- this was not a man who wilted under pressure.
As he stepped up for that sixth kick, he looked the great Neuer in his eyes, let out a deep breath, before casually jogging towards the spot, those curly locks bouncing along, putting his head down and absolutely leathering one into the roof of the net with his left foot. Neuer dived the wrong way, but even if he had guessed correctly, there was no saving this one.
What Panenka had achieved with cheeky imagination, Canale had accomplished with brute force. But the calmness, the seizing of the occasion, the laughing at the world's weight on your shoulders... all that had been the same.
Jose Canale had shrugged away the pressure in that no-nonsense style of his, and made sure Paraguay beat Germany in a World Cup penalty shootout, a success so momentous not only did it rewrite footballing history, it got the president of Paraguay to immediately declare a national holiday on Tuesday as his citizens poured onto the streets in celebration.
As moments go, it doesn't get much better.